Twelve Moments in Time
by NeonDomino
Summary: Hermione is brought back to the Marauder Era, where she meets the Marauders and finds herself falling for James Potter. Twelve related One-Shots written for the Flying Lessons Challenge. Not in any particular order. Hermione/James, also contains WolfStar.
1. Meeting The Twins

**Written for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Flying Lessons: Task One.**

Task: For the first chapter of your multichap, I would like you to consider the theme of beginnings. This should be the opening chapter to your story, and should feature any potential dilemmas that your pairing could face in the future of the story. As with the first time you fly, things can often go wrong in a relationship, and this is particularly vulnerable in the early stages, when a couple are still getting to know each other!

Prompt: (plot) A baby features. Either the birth of the pairings own baby, or someone elses.

* * *

 _This collection will have twelve chapters for Hermione/James. As the tasks are unknown, I have no idea what I'll be writing for the rest - until the next task is revealed._

 _They'll all relate to each other, but they won't necessarily be in order._

* * *

 **Twelve Moments in Time: Meeting The Twins**

* * *

The group of teenagers stood in Molly Weasley's hospital room. A basket containing chocolates, books and various sweets and biscuits sat on the trolley next to the red-headed woman. To her side, was a vase filled with fresh flowers that the group had brought.

Not to mention the almost identical teddy bears - one bearing an 'F' and one with a 'G' that had been placed at the very top of the basket. The group had pooled their money to treat Molly Weasley to some gifts, and the woman was extremely grateful.

"Aren't they beautiful?" a voice whispered softly from next to her. Hermione could only nod, staring down at the two identical babies tucked up together in the extended Moses Basket.

"I'm naming them for my brothers, Fabian and Gideon. Meet Fred and George Weasley."

"How can you tell them apart?" James asked, from next to her.

"A mother can tell things," Hermione muttered, thinking of something Molly had said before... back before Hermione turned back the clock. "Let me guess."

She looked between the twins faces. "Fred," she said, gesturing to the baby on the right. "And George," she added. She was completely mesmerized.

A tired Molly Weasley smiled and nodded her head. "Would you like to hold one?" She asked, looking around the group. Sirius grinned and reached out, picking Fred up carefully and settling the baby at the crook of his arm.

Molly's eyes fell on Hermione and she moved forward, reaching for George and holding him awkwardly, trying to copy how Sirius was holding his brother.

"I've not held a baby before," she murmured, gazing down at the squishy face, her eyes moving across the baby, taking everything in, all the way down to his tiny feet. "He's beautiful."

The room was quiet, and Fred was content to get the attention of the Marauders as he was passed from person to person, but Hermione only gave George up so she could have her turn at holding Fred.

It wasn't about babies, it was about having a moment with two boys that had been a big part of her life before she had come back - one of which had died. As she looked down at Fred's tiny body, she knew that she couldn't let events unfold the way they had before.

"Come on love, let's give Molly some time to rest," James finally said, as Arthur and the three Weasley boys walked in. She carefully lowered the baby into the Moses basket next to his brother and congratulated Molly again, hugging the woman and saying her goodbyes.

James took her arm. "Any longer here, and you'll be asking me to give you one of them," he teased.

Hermione was completely thrown by the comment and James guided her from the room. She barely noticed the arm that slipped around her waist, as she was lost inside her thoughts.

Visions of Harry flew though her mind.

Being here was a mistake. Falling for James was the stupidest thing Hermione had ever done.

The new and exciting relationship that she had with James Potter suddenly felt very wrong indeed.

She couldn't be selfish anymore - she couldn't just think of herself. She had to think of Harry. She had to think of the future.

She had to end it before she grew more attached to him - unless it was too late.

She forced the vision of a different version of Harry from her mind. A vision that had her brown eyes and her nose, rather than Lily's.

She wouldn't allow herself to see that.

* * *

 **601 words**

* * *

 **The Quidditch Pitch Challenge:** She was completely mesmerized

 **Hogwarts Houses** \- Drabble Challenge - Flowers


	2. I Never Want You To Leave

**Written for:**

 **Flying Lessons:** Prompt: (Plot) A major argument, Extra Prompt: (dialogue) "I never want you to leave."

Task: For the second chapter of your collection, I would like you to consider the theme of misunderstanding. There should be a visible conflict between your pairing in the story, or even a conflict between your pairing and another person. As with landings, things can quickly go wrong, resulting in a poor landing. However, you can quickly get back on your feet and recover, and this should reflect in your story!

 **The Marauder's Era Challenge**

 **Drabble Club:** (Item) Time-turner

 **The Quidditch Pitch:** (Word) Amazing

 **All About You Challenge:** Write about a Gryffindor

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: I Never Want You To Leave**

* * *

"Care to explain why you have this?" James asked, as Hermione walked into the boy's dorm-room. He held a familiar golden chain in his hand, and dangling from the chain was her time-turner.

She grasped around for something to say. "You went through my belongings?" she whispered, anger surging through her at the violation of her privacy. It should have been her choice to tell him, not his business to snoop.

"That wasn't him," Sirius said, causing Hermione to spin around, looking at the other two boys who were seated on Sirius' bed. Remus looked slightly guilty, but Sirius had his eyes narrowed. "It was me."

"How did you even get up there?" Hermione asked, glaring at him.

"Well, Remus is a prefect, and he was told this trick -"

"I didn't think he was going to search through your stuff," Remus interrupted.

"Moonpie, stop defending her," Sirius said, his voice softer as he turned to look at the Werewolf. "She's the one who has been keeping secrets, we have every right -"

"Sirius," Remus said, causing Sirius to cut off, their gazes turning back to Hermione.

She turned back to James.

"So, how often do you use it?" James asked, examining the fragile turner.

"During my third year, I used it quite a bit," Hermione stated.

"But that's not the only time, is it?" James said, dropping the chain on his bed. He stood up and approached her. "I mean... you turn up here, no records anywhere about you. The first transfer student in years... there was always something off with you, and now we've found out what it was."

"It's not as bad as you think," Hermione whispered.

"I think that everything you've told me is a lie," James snapped. "I think that now, after this, I deserve the truth. Is this why you've pulled away from me? Because I know you love me too, even if you won't say the words."

Her gaze moved to the door and she heard Remus whisper a locking spell from behind her.

"It was an accident," she blurted out. "I'm not supposed to be here. I was with Harry and me being here will mean that there won't be a Harry anymore."

"Right," James replied, nodding.

"I mean how can a baby be born when their parent's course is set out of time?"

James backed away from her. "You have a son?" he asked, shocked.

"What?" Hermione asked, staring at him in confusion. She thought back over the words she had just uttered. "No, that's not what I meant. Harry's the same age as me, he's special and -"

"You love him?" James stated, bitterly. "You're cheating on me with this Harry."

"Harry is special to me," Hermione interrupted. "He's like a brother to me." She hesitated. "You're not supposed to be with me, you're supposed to marry Lily."

James laughed. "Me and Evans? Are you kidding me?"

She shook her head. "James, where I'm from, your name came up in stories. Stories that Sirius and Remus told us. Stories that they told your son, Harry." She watched his eyes widen. "You and Lily have a son, James. There's a prophecy that he'll end the war... not this war, but a war over twenty years in the future. You're both killed because you put your trust in the wrong person. Sirius ends up in Azkaban, framed for the murder. Remus is all alone for so many years." She took a shaky breath.

"And in my first year, I made the most amazing friend, the most loyal and kind..." tears filled her eyes. "If I were to be with you, Harry wouldn't exist. He's just like you too... except his eyes were green. You remind me so much like him, but my love for Harry was like how you love Remus or Sirius. My love for you... that's something entirely different."

James closed the distance, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her tight.

"He would exist," James stated. "He'd still be just like me, even if his eyes were brown instead of green. Hermione, you've already changed the future. Lily Evans is with Snape and he can have her. If I can't have you, it doesn't mean I'll go running to her. I'm in love with you. I want to spend my life with you and you alone."

She clung to him.

"Can I ask about Azkaban -" Sirius asked from behind her.

"You escaped," Hermione said. "Then when you were captured, me and Harry rescued you on a Hippogriff."

"A Hippogriff," Sirius repeated. "Cool. I've always wanted a pet Hippogriff."

Hermione snorted through the tears, a choked laugh erupting from her. "That would explain why you kept Buckbeak as a pet."

"So, I was alone. Did me and Sirius..." Remus began, hesitantly.

"You reconciled." Hermione replied, deciding to leave it at that. She didn't want to go into detail about the pair falling out before the war. "James," she said, her eyes moving up to meet his. "I love you more than anything. I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth. I was scared."

"It's okay," he whispered. "We'll get past this."

"See, I told you it wasn't anything sinister," Remus mumbled to his boyfriend.

"So, I'm not sure. Do we join in the hug, or do we leave and give them some privacy..." Sirius asked.

"You can join," Hermione said, her voice muffled against James' t-shirt. She smiled as two more sets of arms wrapped around her.

"I love you," James whispered into her hair. "I never want you to leave."

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	3. Waiting Until Marriage

**Written for Flying Lessons on the Hogwarts Forum.**

 **Task: For the third chapter of your collection, I would like you to consider the idea of relationships moving too fast. Perhaps a character is worried that the relationship may have progressed too quickly, or maybe a character is moving too quickly for the other character. Maybe they have jumped into an early marriage or gotten pregnant too soon. Speed and moving fast should be the theme here!**

 **Prompt: OBJECT - Four-Poster Bed**

 **Extra Prompt: (word) Rapid**

* * *

 **Waiting Until Marriage**

* * *

They had known each other for a year now. Four months of uncertainty as their friendship and feelings for each other grew, another three months as she tried to pull away and tried to stop herself from being in love with James.

Six months of acceptance. Six months of giving into James and into love and into happiness.

And six months of kissing and hand-holding.

She was frustrated to say the least. Hermione wasn't going to just jump into bed with James, but if she tried to deepen the kisses, James would pull away. If she pressed against him, he'd pull back, putting space between their bodies.

She was starting to wonder if he was regretting his choice. She had seen the way his eyes would follow Lily and Severus as the pair walked hand in hand, not caring about the looks the other Slytherins gave them.

Six months she had patiently waited for something more to happen.

 **...oOo...**

Hermione decided to follow the advice given to her by her room-mate, Marlene. She pulled on a vest and a pair of her pyjama shorts. She knew James was at Quidditch practice with Sirius and he'd usually shower and head to bed afterwards.

So this was her chance.

Throwing her robes over her clothes, she left her dorm and headed into the boys, smiling at a curious looking Remus.

"Everything alright?" Remus asked.

Hermione nodded. "I was... just going to wait for James," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Remus stared at her for a moment before smiling. "They'll be at least an hour," he said. "How about a game of cards?"

"I'm not feeling exploding snap," Hermione replied.

Remus shook his head. "No? Well, I do have a muggle deck. How about we play some blackjack."

"What's the prize?"

"You know we bought those individually wrapped chocolates from Honeydukes?" Remus began. He watched Hermione nod. "Well, go and get those, and we'll bet chocolates!"

 **...oOo...**

The game ended when they heard noise outside of the room. Hermione looked at Remus in a panic. She had confided in him her concerns, but he had insisted that James wasn't tired of her.

He pushed her towards the bed, using a spell to draw the curtains around it, and began tidying up as the door opened.

"Moonpie, my love," came a loud cry, and Sirius tackled Remus into the bed, and Hermione waited patiently.

She listened to Sirius making various decelerations of his love as she heard the bathroom door open and close.

A more confident girl than her would have followed him into the bathroom. But she didn't think she was anywhere close to being ready to share a shower with James.

Finally the door opened again, and her heart was pounding. She heard him share a few words with Sirius before the bathroom door went again, and then the curtains were opened.

James looked surprised to see her there, and she gave him a shy smile.

He turned around, glancing in Remus' direction, and Hermione bit her lip as the pair seemed to have a silent conversation. Finally James slipped into the bed, shutting the curtains behind him.

"I wasn't expecting to see you until the morning," he begun, leaning in and placing his lips on hers. Just a brush of their lips before he pulled away again.

"I know," Hermione said. "I just thought I'd surprise you... that's if you're not busy or anything."

"I'm never too busy to spend time with you," James said. "Do you want to do something? Go for a walk? Fly? Play a game?"

She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I just want to stay in here... with you."

James' eyes widened slightly. "Oh... okay," he said. "Do you want to lay down?"

The pair arranged themselves on their sides, looking at each other.

"Do you want to talk?" James asked.

Hermione shook her head, shuffling closer to James. She pressed her lips against his, kissing him softly, and his hand quickly moved to her back as he reciprocated.

With a pounding heart, she brought her leg up, hooking it around his leg.

Marlene had told her that men understood what that meant, and James wouldn't be able to resist her.

Marlene was wrong, Hermione realised, when James gently pulled away.

"It's getting late, I'll walk you to your common room," he said. A clear indication that he wanted her to leave.

Hermione felt anger flare inside her. Ever since they had found the time turner, she had given the relationship everything she had. She hadn't tried to stop herself falling in love - just the opposite actually.

And James didn't want her.

She pulled away from him.

"I can make my own way there," she replied, keeping her voice from shaking as she felt tears build in her eyes.

Not that he would see them - it was quite dark behind the heavy curtains of the bed.

"This was a mistake," she added, before climbing out of the bed and grabbing up her robes. She could feel Sirius, Remus and Peter's eyes all on her as she pulled the robes on as she walked to the door. Fingers wrapped around her arm, spinning her around.

"Hermione, talk to me, something's wrong," James demanded.

"You. You're what's wrong," Hermione snapped. "Is there something wrong with me that you can't bear to touch me? You won't even kiss me properly. Do you not want me anymore? Because if that's the case, stop stringing me along and just tell me the truth."

James stared at her in shock.

"There is nothing I want more than you," he replied. "I love you more than anything. It's me that's the problem."

He gently tugged at her hand, and she followed him over to his bed, taking a seat.

He gestured to her open robes.

"It's taking every ounce of my will-power not to throw you on my bed and make you mine -"

"Me too," Sirius called from two beds away, where he was cuddling with Remus. "Ouch," he muttered, after Remus playfully hit him on the arm.

"Thanks Remus," James called, before turning his attention back to Hermione. "As I was saying, I want to. I really do... but there's something I want to do before I take you to bed."

"I'm not asking for sex," Hermione said. "Just something more - anything. I just want you to kiss me how Sirius kisses Remus, or how Frank kisses Alice."

"Hermione, you don't know what the feel of your lips does to me," James asked, taking her hand in his. "With you, I feel less in control of myself because you ignite things in me..." he glared at Sirius, as the dark-haired wizard sniggered from the other bed.

"Graduation is only a couple months away, and I don't want this to move further before graduation," he said. "My future is with you, I've never been so sure of anything in my life as that fact, and that's why I see no rush right now - because we'll have the rest of our lives for that."

"So, you think I'm moving too fast?" Hermione asked, relieved. Speed - that was something she could deal with. James still loved her; still wanted to be with her.

She could wait. She didn't need a rapid progression of the relationship.

"So, we'll talk about this after graduation?" Hermione asked.

James nodded. "I don't want our first time together to be here," he said. "I want our first time to be in a bed we share, together." He examined her hand and his gaze nervously met hers again. "Hopefully that will take place a few hours after I put my family ring on your finger."

He drew the shocked girl in for a slow kiss, and her arms wrapped around him, holding him close.

She finally understood. James wanted to wait until they were married - and he was right; there was no rush - they had forever.


	4. Why Are You So Afraid?

Written for

(1) Flying Lessons:

Task: For the fourth chapter of your collection, I would like you to consider the idea of endurance and hardships. Perhaps your characters have come to an obstacle in their relationship that is a considerable difficulty, such as the death or loss of a family member or friend, maybe someone was assaulted or abused, or perhaps physical or mental illness has come into play. Both of your characters should visibly be experiencing and feeling the difficulty of progressing through this hardship.

Prompts: (plot) A family member/friend dies; You make it hard to leave, but it's easier for me to stay/Why am I so afraid." - Afraid, Lana Del Rey

(2) Quidditch Pitch: Prompt - Bereft

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time:**

 **Why Are You So Afraid?**

* * *

Hermione stared at the bereft Wizard as he stared at the dinner table, wishing she had words to help him through what he was feeling. She wished that she had known about his parents death, so she could have done something - anything to help him through. If she had known, she could have stopped it from happening.

He had pulled away from everyone; as had Sirius. Barely talking, barely eating. Even Lily was worried about him.

Hermione was so concerned about Sirius. She knew how much the Potters had meant to him, he had told her one night, back in her own time. They were more his parents than Walburga and Orion.

...oOo...

Hermione headed up to the boy's dorm later that evening, finding Remus pacing outside.

"I don't know what to say," he confessed. "I feel like I'm making things worse." He moved aside to let Hermione in.

"I don't know Sirius very well, but I think you just being there next to him, even if you don't say anything, would mean something to him," Hermione replied.

"You're right," Remus muttered.

"You were close to the Potters too?" Hermione asked.

Remus nodded, unshed tears in his eyes. "Yeah, they treated me like they treated Sirius and James. I didn't spend as much time with them as Sirius though, but..."

"But you need comfort too?" Hermione guessed. "Go and lay down with Sirius."

Remus nodded, turning and opening the door. She watched Remus join Sirius on the bed, wrapping his arms around the stiff boy and holding him tightly.

She turned her gaze to James' bed, where he was curled up, unmoving and nervously approached, settling down on the other side. She felt strange being on his bed.

He opened his eyes, and his usually sparkling hazel eyes were dull and lifeless.

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked, her voice soft.

He went to shake his head, but she could see the tears that were threatening to fall from his red-rimmed eyes. She shifted closer, putting her arms around and feeling him shake against her.

She could feel his tears through her top, but kept her hand stroking through the back of his hair, doing her best to comfort him.

"My Mum," he whispered. "What will I do without her?"

"I can't answer that," she replied. "I don't think losing your parents is something someone ever really gets over."

"Have you lost someone?"

"I lost mine two years ago," she admitted. "I was taken in by... someone very special to me, he treated me like his own. When he died, I came here."

"Wait - so what happens when the holidays come around?"

"Remus said I can stay at his," Hermione said.

"Well, my home is always open to you. If you need someone to talk to -"

"Let's not talk about me, this is about you. Is there anything I can do? Anything you need?"

"Just stay here with me for a little bit," James whispered.

Hermione nodded, and shifted back into his grip. His head rested on her shoulder again and she felt the tears flow. Both from her eyes and his.

She held herself still, not allowing herself to shake, not even moving to wipe the tears that were falling from her eyes. Moving her arm might make James move and she didn't want James to see her crying. She knew he'd feel the need to comfort her and she wasn't going to let that happen.

She had done enough of crying on Remus and Sirius' shoulders. James needed someone to be strong and someone to hold him and make him feel like he wasn't so alone.

...oOo...

It was late by the time she moved from the bed. James was falling asleep and Sirius and Remus were just holding each other tightly in the next bed, talking so low that Hermione couldn't work out what they were saying.

"Hermione?"

She turned back to a tired looking James.

"Are you leaving now?" He looked so lost that Hermione was tempted not to.

"You make it hard to leave, it's easier for me to stay..." she hesitated. "But I can't."

"I understand," he replied. Thank you." He followed her from the bed and took her hand in his. "I know I can't have been very good company."

"I would be surprised if you _had_ been good company," Hermione replied. "You've been through a lot, James."

"Sorry for crying all over you," he said, a watery smile on his lips. One that barely reached his eyes.

"That's what I'm here for," she insisted. "If you ever need me, or just want to talk... I'm here for you."

"Let me at least walk you downstairs - I would walk you to your dorm but I can't get up." He followed her from the room in silence.

"Thank you," he said again, as they reached the last step. "I don't know what I'm going to do without my mum or dad, but it's good to know I have someone like you there for me."

Before she could say anything, James leaned in and brushed his lips against hers softly.

"Goodnight," he whispered. She stepped back in alarm, and he watched her, a tiny smile on his lips. "Why are you so afraid?" he asked.

"Goodnight," she whispered turning to the stairs and trying to ignore the fluttering in her stomach. No kiss had ever made her feel like that before.

"Why am I so afraid?" She asked herself, walking up to her dorm.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	5. Two Very Different Witches

**To start, I must warn you that Lily isn't very nice in this chapter. I think jealousy can bring out the worst in everyone really, no matter how nice they are.**

 **And James is an arse in this chapter.**

 **Actually, the Alternate title to this is - Twelve Moments In Time: The Time James Was an Arse.**

 **Thanks to Firefly for the help :)**

* * *

 **Written for:**

 **Hogwarts Flying Lessons:** You should try to incorporate some form of manipulation or game playing into your story. **Prompts:** (location) The Astronomy Tower, "I won't play a part in your constant drama!"

 **Ultimate Chocolate Frog Card Trading Duelling Club:** (Gold): Kappa - Challenge: Incorporate someone sneaking up on someone or making them jump into your story.

 **Hogwarts - Gringotts Prompt Bank**

(1) "You desired my attention, but denied my affection." (2) Confirmed (3) about (4) around (5) without

 **Quidditch Pitch:** envy

 **Drabble Club** : desk

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: Two Very Different Witches**

* * *

Hermione smiled to herself as she got out of bed, ignoring the look Lily was giving her from across the room. She slipped into the bathroom before any of the other girls could, knowing she needed extra time to do her hair.

She relaxed in the shower, a smile still on her lips as she rubbed the shampoo into her curls as she thought about the date she was about to go on.

Months of flirting aside, and James had made his choice. He had actually approached her and asked her to Hogsmeade. Not just as a group - even though they'd be heading there with Sirius and Remus... they would all be going their own ways.

She had hesitated for a long time in her choice. The attraction was clearly there, and what could it hurt, going on one date with James Potter?

She'd find her way home soon enough, and things would go back on track for James and Lily and they'd still get married and have Harry.

She finished washing, wrapping her hair in a towel and dressing into her high waisted jeans and band t-shirt. She had thought the Raging Dementors were classic rock... but these days, they were all the rage.

She took a seat in front of Alice's mirror and began to dry her hair, leaving it falling around her face in wild curls. Once she had learnt to get rid of the frizz, she was happy with what she could do with her hair. She paid no attention to Lily, instead allowing Alice to spray her with some perfume that as Alice said - "Drives Frank crazy!"

She could feel Lily's eyes burning into her back.

She refused the make-up and headed down to breakfast.

She ate quickly, not wanting James to see her until they were supposed to meet in the Common Room. She spent an hour in the library, and it was almost time to leave. She headed back to the tower.

She smiled at Sirius and Remus, who were just coming out of the portrait hole. "James with you?"

"He's waiting in the common room for you," Sirius said. "Looking hot, Granger!"

"You too, though you must know that by the fact that Remus hasn't been able to keep his eyes off your arse," Hermione retorted, grinning at them.

"He can't help himself," Sirius confirmed smugly. "We'll be meeting you both for lunch, have a good date."

 **...oOo...**

Hermione stepped through the portrait hole, but paused at the sight of James and Lily. She didn't know whether to head in, or wait outside.

"So... it's really a shame. I was waiting for you to ask me to Hogsmeade," Lily murmured, causing Hermione to stay exactly where she was.

"You... you were?" James replied, hopefully.

"But I've missed my chance, haven't I?" She sighed. "I really thought you'd ask me."

"I... I usually would have, but I just wanted to... I didn't realise..."

"But you've got a date with Hermione Granger... or so I've heard." Lily sounded so sad, but Hermione could see it was an act. Lily had no interest in James - she just missed the constant attention, the flowers and the love poems.

"It's not a date," James blurted out. "I mean, I asked her... but it's just us all hanging out - you know..."

"So... you won't mind me tagging along with you?" Lily purred, moving closer to James.

"Of course I won't mind," James said with a smile. He turned at the sound of the portrait closing, but there was no-one there.

 **...oOo...**

Her head tried to reason that Lily and James were destined to be together, but that didn't make it hurt any less. It had been a date. One Hermione had been looking forward to - and Lily... jealous Lily Evans had ruined it.

She headed back to her safe haven - the library, taking a seat at an empty desk. She doubted that now James had Lily, he wouldn't even wait that long for her. If she stayed out of the way, this would become their first date.

She ignored the horrible feeling in her chest that told her that James would never be hers. She reminded herself that he never was.

 **...oOo...**

"All dressed up and nowhere to go?"

Hermione's gaze shifted up to see a redhead standing next to her table. Without being invited, he pulled the chair back and dropped down.

"I had somewhere to go," Hermione offered, realising that she was talking to one of the Prewett twins. "But plans changed."

"I know what you mean," he said, frowning slightly. "I had a date with Lily Evans, she didn't even bother to show up."

Hermione closed her book. "I had a date with James Potter. From what I overheard, she wanted to go with him. He told her that we weren't going on a date, so I came here instead."

"I'm Gideon," Gideon offered.

"Hermione," Hermione said.

The redhead shot her a cheeky grin that reminded her a little of Bill Weasley. "Well, Hermione. How about we head to Hogsmeade ourselves?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment. Gideon Prewett was quite nice looking, but it wasn't fair if her heart was pushing her elsewhere.

"Not as a date," he insisted. "But as friends. We've both been abandoned, no reason why we can't still have a great time today."

"Sure," she said, leaving the book on the table. "Let's go."

 **...oOo...**

Walking around Hogsmeade with Gideon Prewett was a lot more fun than Hermione had realised it would be. He wasn't quite the joker she had thought him to be - the thought of a set of twins related to Fred and George had made her assume that they were alike.

But the Ravenclaw was charming, she knew that much and an hour in, she had definite plans to set him up with Dorcas, thinking that the pair would get along brilliantly.

Lunchtime arrived, and Gideon held the door open for Hermione to walk into the Three Broomsticks, pulling out a chair for her and asking what she wanted to eat.

"I'm not fussy," she said. "Whatever you're having... unless the special is Shepherd's pie again, then I'll have that."

Gideon grinned. "Coming up, mi'lady," he replied, heading to the bar.

The food had just arrived when Hermione saw the three Marauders and Lily walk in. Ignoring them, she turned back to Gideon, smiling at his stories - hearing about him growing up with his brother and Molly as a big sister fascinated her. She could easily work out how Molly came to mother everyone (even Remus). It was because she had to start at such a young age.

In return, she began sharing a few stories of her own, having to be careful about the details. She was sitting close to Gideon, the pub having become too noisy to hear, and was leaning in towards him to tell him the story.

"So this is why you stood me up?" came a voice, causing Hermione to jump The pair looked up, to see an angry James staring down at them.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you mind?" she started coldly, "I was in the middle of talking to Gideon."

"I do mind when you don't bother showing up for our date," James said, his tone equally cold.

She got up from her chair. "Oh, so it was a date," she snapped. "To be completely honest James, you and Lily are perfect for each other. You'd both willingly stand up dates for each other regardless of other's feelings. Who am I to get in the way? Maybe it's best I start making friends outside of the group so things won't be awkward."

"But he's a Ravenclaw," James spluttered. "I never stood you up. You never showed up. You're not making sense!"

Her eyes fell on the door where Sirius and Remus just walked through. They looked around, their gaze falling on James and Hermione arguing. Gideon was calmly drinking his Butterbeer, watching the pair.

"I won't play a part in your constant drama!" Hermione quietly informed him. "Go back over to your date. I'm not going to play back-up for when Lily Evans has no time for you, and I'm not one for playing games. You either want me, or you want her - it's that simple in my eyes. It's funny, isn't it - she only wants you when you ask someone else out. Now please leave, you're ruining my lunch."

James looked like he was going to say something further, but Gideon stood up from his seat. "Listen Potter, Hermione's asked you to leave her alone. Your friends are here, I suggest heading over to them."

 **...oOo...**

"And then he tells me to leave Hermione alone," James fumed, looking between his friends and ignoring the redhead by his side.

"So Hermione just didn't bother turning up?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly," James said.

"You're an idiot," Sirius said. "She was going into the Common Room when we had just left. We saw her go in."

"How comes I didn't see her?"

"Maybe you were too caught up talking to Lily to notice?" Remus asked, glaring at his friend. "You must have said something that upset Hermione."

James frowned, thinking back to when he had been waiting in the common room. Lily had come over to him just as he was saying bye to his friends. If Hermione had walked in at that moment...

Crap.

"So what did Evans do?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I've done nothing," Lily retorted, primly.

James ignored her, choosing to repeat the whole conversation between him and Lily to his friends. He felt ashamed as the words fell from his lips. No wonder Hermione left - he didn't blame her.

"That's funny," Remus muttered, staring darkly at the pair. "I mean, Lily was in the room when you asked Hermione on a date, so she knew you were taking Hermione to Hogsmeade today."

"You know, we've not known her for long, but Hermione's our friend," Sirius told him, picking up his drink. Remus picked his own up and followed Sirius away from the table. James watched them sit at Hermione's table with her instead, leaving James alone with Lily.

"Did you plan this?" James asked, finally turning to Lily.

"Hey," she began. "I didn't make you say anything. If you really liked her, you wouldn't have told me that you weren't going on a date. Clearly it's me you want and not her."

James looked over at where Sirius was trying to get Hermione to sit on his lap, and Hermione was laughing. He had never felt envy towards anyone before, until that moment.

He wanted to be over at that table with them, not sitting with Lily. He messed up - his obsession with Lily clouding the feelings that had developed for Hermione.

"I think this date is over," James replied.

"What? Why?" Lily asked.

"You desired my attention, but denied my affection," James said. "You only want me because I wasn't paying you attention. I care about you, Lily. But not in that way anymore. I don't think we're right for each other. I'd like to be your friend, but I know who I want to be with now."

He stood up from the table and walked out, leaving Lily sitting alone.

It was only a minute before his seat was filled by a familiar Slytherin who didn't want to see his friend upset.

 **...oOo...**

Hermione looked at the map, spotting James Potter alone in the Astronomy Tower. Remus and Sirius said he had been up there for a few hours, and Remus was offering to go and fetch him.

Sirius was trying to explain to Remus why it was a better idea to leave him there and draw the curtains around the bed and get James later.

"I'll go," Hermione offered, taking the map and leaving the dorm. She quickly headed to the tower, finding James sitting on the floor, staring out of the window.

"You've been up here a while," Hermione said. "I thought I'd see if you were alright."

James nodded. "You see, that's another difference," he murmured, talking to himself. "Lily wouldn't care enough to come up here to check on me."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. She hated that James was comparing what they would and wouldn't do. "You know, there are some similarities between me and Lily. We're both smart, we're both muggleborns, we're both Gryffindors and we're both planning on making a difference to the world. But that's where it ends, James. I'm not like Lily. I don't know what was going on in your head - whether I was just there to pass the time for you or something, but you need to realise that I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to be someone's second choice because I deserve more than that."

"I didn't mean to make you feel like that," James said.

"But you did," Hermione said. "I was under no illusions over how you felt about Lily - everyone warned me about it, telling me that I'd get hurt, but you seemed less interested in her. You weren't sending her flowers, love poems or anything else. You seemed like you were getting over her - you were pestering me and not her for a date to Hogsmeade. I thought I'd give you a chance, but you showed that Lily comes first. I was stupid to think any different." She bit her lip, looking into James' hazel eyes as he got to his feet.

"I'm not even that angry anymore, I'm just disappointed because I thought I knew you better than that."

"I'm sorry," James whispered. "Yes, she used to be the centre of my world. I would have done anything for a date with her... and I said some stupid things, but when I realised that I had missed out on going to Hogsmeade with you - well, I couldn't enjoy myself at all. When I saw you there with Gideon, I was so angry. I realised that I wanted to be with you and not Lily. I've been trying to make sense of things in my time up here."

"And have you?" Hermione asked.

James nodded. "I had my chance with Lily today, and I realised that I don't want her anymore. I was infatuated with her. With you... I like you and I think you like me too. I want a relationship with you - a proper one. An equal one. Because with you, Hermione, it would feel right. Today didn't feel right at all."

"I don't know," Hermione began, her eyes dropping to the floor.

"I'm really sorry," he whispered, moving closer. "Please, Hermione."

"I'll forgive you this time," Hermione muttered.

"And I'll prove to you that it's you that I want. It's not Lily anymore. I was blinded by how I used to feel about her, and didn't realise how I felt about you."

Hermione wanted to ask how he felt, but that would be getting in too deep.

"I don't know if I can do this," she whispered.

"But one thing you should know about me," James said. "I don't give up. I won't give up on us, Hermione."

Hermione looked into his hazel eyes and believed him.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

 **If you pop over to my profile, at the top there is a poll for what Multi-chapter I should post after I've finished Living Again. Please take a moment to vote. :)**


	6. A Priceless Gift

Flying Lessons: You are acting as a surrogate/decline to act as a surrogate for the other couple, or vice versa. Prompt: (location) Diagon Alley

Lush Product Prompt Challenge: Prompts - Feeling, stressed out, healing, soothing, tired

Chocolate Frog Trading and Duelling Challenge - (Silver): Felix Summerbee: Challenge: Someone is exceptionally happy in your story.

Gringotts Prompt Bank: agreed, laugh, (feeling) blessed, (last line) He/She closed his/her eyes, ready to sleep.

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: A Priceless Gift**

* * *

Hermione listened to James' room-mates as they whispered between themselves. She was reading an interesting Runes book whilst laying across James' bed, but found that their conversation was even more fascinating.

"No, your eyes," Sirius murmured. "Your eyes are a perfect colour."

"But you have a nicer nose," Remus replied softly. "And wonderful lips."

"And you have perfect hair, and the nicest arse."

"Sirius, I'm pretty sure we've gone from what our baby should look like to something else entirely."

Sirius pouted. "I can't help it if your body distracts me," he said accusingly.

Remus laughed, cuddling closer to Sirius. "Yours distracts me too," he murmured.

"Silencing Charms," James called to them as Sirius moved away from Remus so he could shut the curtains.

"What was all that about?" Hermione asked. She couldn't help but enjoy seeing the men like this after seeing how they had been in her own time - two men that struggled to overcome the distrust that ruined their relationship.

"They're planning what their baby will look like," James replied with a roll of his eyes. "They do that a lot, but never get very far before they end up closing the curtains and not coming out for at least an hour!"

"Having kids?" Hermione asked, glancing at the now tightly shut curtains.

"Yeah, family means a lot to Sirius," James explained. "His are... let's just say he wants his own one day."

"And how will he manage that? Adoption?"

James shook his head. "There's a procedure that involves a surrogate. Neither of them can carry a baby since they're both male, but the magic can make sure the baby is 100% theirs and contains nothing of the surrogate at all. All the surrogate does is grow the baby and birth the baby. I think they're waiting until they leave school - Sirius has saved all his Uncle's money, and Remus has a little cottage that they are going to fix up to live in."

Hermione nodded and James turned back to his magazine. If Sirius had always wanted children, why had they never had any? Hermione felt saddened at the thought of the men who hadn't ever had the family they had wanted.

...oOo...

Hermione had never heard Remus and Sirius shout at each other before. They had disagreements all the time, but nothing that caused them to shout at each other. The worst thing was that their argument was over the washing up.

She knew there was a deeper reason for their behaviour, but didn't want to ask. Her gaze met James' and he looked worried. "They've been fighting a lot," he murmured softly.

"Why?"

"It's this adoption thing," James said, keeping his voice down. "They keep getting rejected at every single turn. Remus thinks it's his fault for being a Werewolf and thinks he's letting Sirius down, but given the choice, Sirius would choose Remus over kids. Remus is his soul-mate after all. He wants kids, but he wants Remus more. Remus on the other hand thinks Sirius should find someone that will be accepted by a surrogate. He doesn't realise Sirius wouldn't ever want anybody else."

The front door slammed shut moments before Remus walked into the room, his eyes empty of emotion and a forced smile on his lips as he set the tea-tray down on the coffee-table. Hermione shifted closer to him as he took a seat on the sofa, and she took his hand in hers, trying to offer some comfort as James got up and headed after Sirius.

...oOo...

Hermione hadn't planned it at all. Yes, she had snooped in Sirius' belongings and found the paperwork on the adoption, her gaze falling on the application number, but she only remembered it as it was a an easy number to remember.

9119.

But her walk through Diagon Alley, looking for second hand bookshops hidden down the side roads, led her past the familiar name. "Diagon Alley Surrogate Agency."

Book shops completely forgotten, she pushed the door open and walked in.

"Are you here to sign up as a surrogate?" the woman behind the desk asked.

Hermione went to laugh - she was there to discuss with someone about taking Remus' Lycanthropy state off their application - surely there was a loophole somewhere... but an idea came to her.

Her a surrogate.

She loved Sirius and Remus, and wanted them to have a child. Why shouldn't she be the one to give them the greatest gift ever?

She nodded her head. "Yes I am," she told the woman, without a single doubt about what she wanted to do.

...oOo...

The application didn't take long, and Hermione was led to a room to have some tests run to see if she was fertile enough. She was quickly approved and taken into an office to sit with a consultant.

"Mrs Potter," the woman began, a wide smile on her face. "We have a lot of clients looking for someone to birth their child. I can give you a folder to look through. There are no names, but there are details of the potential parents and personal statements for each.

Hermione's gaze moved through each application form, checking for the application number. She finally reached the end of the folder and handed it back. "Do you have any more applications?"

"Do you not like any of these?" the woman asked. "Or is there anything in particular you're looking for? A certain price-range, perhaps?"

Hermione nodded. "I have some friends who have signed up here. They are best friends with me and my husband. I'm here because they aren't having any luck finding a surrogate."

The woman nodded. "Do you have their application number?"

"It's 9119," she replied.

The woman headed to the filing cabinet, shuffling through until a file was pulled out. She took the application from the file and handed it over.

"Why isn't this in the folder?" Hermione asked.

"It was removed two days ago," the woman replied. "One of the pair changed their minds on the matter."

Hermione recalled two days before where Sirius had turned up in tears stating that he was scared Remus was trying to break up with him. She didn't have any doubt that he cancelled the application in the hope of fixing the relationship.

"They still want this," Hermione said, her eyes moving across the form before turning to the next page and finding Sirius' handwriting.

 _'Dear our potential Surrogate._

 _As you are reading this, you've come to our application and found us worthy of more than a quick glance. Thank you for making it this far._

 _There isn't much I can tell you to make you choose us that isn't written on the first page. All I can say is that me and my soulmate haven't had the best families growing up. Both of us value family and want our own child more than anything. We've got a good home and wonderful friends and our baby will have a wonderful family to raise him or her._

 _We would do anything and everything for our child, were we lucky enough to be chosen._

 _I hope you'll take us into consideration when making your choice.'_

"Please inform them that you've found a surrogate willing to take them on. Now, where do I sign?"

"Right here," the woman said, pointing to the bottom of the page. "They'll be alerted the moment this is signed. As they've offered a large sum of money to their surrogate, you will only receive five percent now. You'll receive another five perfect once you're with child and a monthly amount. The rest will be paid upon the birth of the child."

"But, I don't want any money," Hermione exclaimed.

"I'm unable to change the initial fee as it will automatically transfer upon signing this document, as will DASA's fee. Should you change your mind, you sign something else and the money is put straight back."

Hermione took the quill and signed her name, knowing that she would force the pair to take the money back straight away. She smiled at the woman and agreed to the woman arranging a meeting between her and the couple that evening before apparating home.

She had only been in for fifteen minutes before Sirius fell through the floo, landing on his knees, knocking soot everywhere. He didn't seem to care about his state, instead, running over to James and Hermione. "Someone's accepted," he shouted, causing James to cover his ears.

Remus followed through, looking slightly happy, though there was concern in his eyes. "Sirius, we agreed that if this did happen, we wouldn't get excited. She could still change her mind."

"No," Sirius cried. "I have a good feeling about this."

"I do too," Hermione offered, beaming at him. "Just think - you're going to be fathers!"

Remus' smile widened at the word.

"Well, Remus will," James muttered. "I picture Sirius as more of the mum."

The others nodded in agreement and Sirius shrugged. "I can't even be annoyed by that, I'm too happy," he declared. "Well, we better be going. We've got to get ready to meet her for dinner this evening."

"Evening? It's only four," James pointed out.

"Yes, but we have to look perfect," Sirius declared, grabbing Remus' hand and pulling him close for a kiss. "Plus, me and Remus have our own sort of celebrating to do." With that, they disappeared into the floo.

James turned to Hermione. "You didn't look surprised at all," he said. "Spill."

"Well," she began, feeling a bit guilty that she hadn't shared her idea with James first - he was her husband after all. She had her mind made up, but it was only right that he feel like he had a say in the matter. "I was in Diagon Alley earlier and I saw the Surrogacy Agency. So I thought to myself that I should head inside and see their laws and information and find out if there was a way to take Remus' Werewolf status off the forms. I was hoping for a loophole that they could use."

"Hermione, who is the surrogate?" James asked, looking very serious.

"I went in and the woman thought I was there to sign up as a surrogate and I realised that there was an answer staring us right in the face." She bit her lip. "I should have spoken to you first, but I wanted to give them this gift. After everything they've done for me, in my past and in this past... they're my family and what kind of person would I be if I didn't help them?"

She wasn't expecting James to kiss her, but she couldn't resist the soft lips teasing hers. "You continue to surprise me," he murmured. "I'd like to know these things, because I was hoping to talk to you about starting our own family, but I wouldn't have disagreed with your choice."

Hermione smiled up at him. "I would rather do this for Remus and Sirius first," she said. "Then we can get started on our own... when you're ready."

His gaze darkened. "How about we take a leaf out of Sirius and Remus' book?"

"And have sex on the nearest available surface without any regards to who could come through the floo? I'm game," she said, laughing and allowing James to pull her over to the sofa.

...oOo...

It was only an hour before the information pack turned up at the window. Hermione handed over some owl treats, before the owl flew away.

A quick shower later, she opened the information, finding a copy of Sirius and Remus' application from the folder - the same copy that didn't have their personal information.

She read through it more thoroughly and her eyes bulged at the fee. Sirius and Remus were offering a fortune. Her eyes narrowed as she realised that even with this cash, people were so prejudiced against Werewolf that they refused.

She recalled Sirius talking about selling his Uncle's house once the cottage was finished and realised how they had that much money. It was the reason why they were both working every hour they could. Why Remus was doing nights in an awful callcentre. It was also why they weren't free to go out to dinner or to anywhere that costed more than spare change.

They had been saving every penny for the application.

She passed it over to James without a word, only her finger on the money.

"Merlin," he murmured. "Is that how much money Sirius has been saving on hair products?"

...oOo...

She heard Sirius' excited tones before she even saw the pair. She waited patiently at the table, her gaze on the menu as she heard Sirius' hissed whisper of excitement as the pair approached the table.

"Uh... excuse... excuse me, but are you..."

"Why yes I am," Hermione said, putting the menu down and enjoying the shocked looks on their faces. "Should we eat first or get right down to business?"

The hope faded from Sirius' eyes. "But... we were supposed to..." his eyes moved around the restaurant, looking to see if there was another witch sitting alone.

"Meet your surrogate," she finished. "That's right. It's me."

Sirius' eyes lit up again. "You?" he exclaimed.

Hermione nodded her head and the two men sat down, staring at her in shock. "I wanted to do this for you. But I have some conditions."

"Name them, whatever it is, we'll do it."

"I want you to take your fee back," Hermione said. "I don't want your money."

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "No can do," he said. "Especially with you - you make potions for a living, and you can't do that when pregnant so you'll be losing out on your income."

"That doesn't matter -" Hermione began. "I can't take this money from you. I don't want it, I just want to do this for you both. If it was the other way around, would you take our money?"

Remus reached across the table. "How about a comprimise," he said. "We give you money to cover what you'd be earning for the nine months. That way we don't feel guilty for you losing any income. How does that sound?"

"Remus..."

"Hermione," he murmured. "We know you and James are saving too. We have a bit more money saved aside - money that we would have used on the baby, so we'll be fine. What you earn isn't even a quarter of what we've put in that agreement, so me and Sirius will still have a nice amount of gold."

They sat in silence as Hermione tried to think, but she relaised there was no way she could turn the money down and dash their hopes of having a child. "I warn you, I'm going to be buying the baby a lot of gifts," she threatened.

Their faces lit up. "We'd expect that much from Aunty-Hermione..."

"Godmother Hermione," Sirius corrected him. "I can't think of a better title."

She beamed at them. "So, we can talk facts and figures later. James is at the bar, waiting with a bottle of champagne to celebrate. It might be my last one in a while!"

...oOo...

She was utterly exhausted and stressed out. The last nine months had been draining - mostly because of three wizards that took turns in stalking her around her house and not letting her carry anything they considered 'heavy'. Sirius had taken over the cooking, worried about her burning herself. James gave her soothing foot-rubs, and Remus brought her chocolate.

Okay, so it wasn't that bad after all.

And it was all worth it. She looked at the little bundle in her arms, an ache in her chest as she thought about handing the baby away. Even if it was to Sirius and Remus.

But as they walked in, their eyes falling nervously on the bundle, Hermione found herself somehow able to hold the baby out ever so slightly towards them. The pair took turns to lean in and clutch Hermione tightly in a hug, whilst being mindful of the baby, and whisper their gratitude - as though she couldn't see it in their eyes. As James walked in, the pair took the baby and sat down next to Hermione, cooing over their newborn son.

Yes, she was so happy to have given them this gift.

James took a moment to look at the baby with dark hair and a red face and offer his friends his congratulations, before heading to the other side of the bed and taking Hermione's hand.

"I'm so tired," she murmured.

"You want to wait before having our own?" James asked.

Hermione offered a smile, though her eyes wanted to close. "It's September," she whispered. "If we play our cards right, the first wave of Marauders could hit Hogwarts at the same time. though I may need a bit of healing first."

"First wave?" Remus asked, looking up from the tiny baby in Sirius' arms.

"Yeah," Hermione mumbled. "It's not fun being an only child. Maybe in a few years, our kids will get siblings. Let's not worry about that right now though."

With that, she closed her eyes, ready to sleep.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

Thanks to everyone that is reading this/reviewing/favouriting/following. I have no idea what the next chapter will be as it depends on the prompts given. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading this. :)


	7. Hermione's Secret

**Flying Lessons:** Task - I would like you to write about an obstacle that occurred early on in your relationship. Prompts - (dialogue) "You still believe in me. Don't you?"; "You like me even when I'm mean; I'm the Queen."

 **Chocolate Frog Trading and Duelling Challenge** \- (Bronze): Bridget Wenlock:  Challenge: Write about someone's paranoia.

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: Hermione's Secret**

* * *

James paced the room, his hands deep in the pockets off his trousers, and a frown on his face. There was something he was missing with it came to Hermione, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on it. But he knew it was something important.

He had been trying to work it out for hours. No matter the feelings that had started to grow for the witch, she was clearly hiding something big from him. How did he know she could be trusted?

She could be one of those Death Eaters for all he knew.

James stopped pacing, realising quickly that he had never seen her arms. Even in the hot common room, her sleeves were long, covering up to her wrists.

If that wasn't her hiding the dark-mark, he didn't know what it could be.

As the night wore on, James convinced himself more and more that his sort-of-girlfriend was a Death Eater. Not that he would condemn her - he cared for her, he wanted a future with her.

Instead, he began to think of ways to help her. Possibly take her away from danger after they had left Hogwarts - that would be a sure way to keep her safe. He suspected Sirius was going to try that with Remus, after what they had read about in the newspapers regarding the Werewolves.

Maybe this was why she never talked about family - maybe she was ashamed that they were dark witches and wizards too.

Or maybe Death Eaters took her family.

James looked towards his side table, wondering if her could get his parents to look at Hermione's past, to see exactly where the witch had come from, but the door swung open, diverting his attention.

Sirius.

He would know what to do.

...oOo...

It wasn't hard to plan the moment - James was in the library with Hermione, when he flicked his wand, causing her sleeve to fall down. His eyes fell on her arm, expecting to see an evil mark.

"What the hell is this?" he roared, grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to him to inspect it. "Who did this to you?"

An upset Hermione tried to pull the slightly baggy sleeve back over her arm, but James held still. "Who did this to you?" he repeated.

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes. "One of the death eaters," she whispered. "The one who killed my parents." Her other hand reached up to her arm, covering the words and she winced in pain.

"It looks fresh though -"

"Cursed blade," Hermione said, her gaze looking anywhere but at James. "It'll never heal."

James felt sick. He had been watching her over the weeks, the way her hand would rest on her arm, as though she was trying to hide what was under her clothes. The way she would tug her sleeves into place.

"What did you expect to find?" Hermione asked softly, looking into his eyes, causing James to look away guiltily.

"A dark mark," he admitted, feeling that it would be wrong to lie to her.

"And if you had found it? What would you have done?"

"I know you're not dark," James murmured. "I thought maybe they were blackmailing you, or threatening you. I thought if you did have one... you'd maybe tell me why, and I could take you somewhere and keep you safe."

"So you wouldn't have left me?" Hermione asked.

James shook his head. "Of course I wouldn't have," he assured her. "Unless you were evil and actually wanted to be a death eater."

He pulled Hermione close, feeling worse and worse about his stupid desicion. Why hadn't he just asked her? Just trusted her?

"You still believe in me, don't you?" he whispered.

"Of course," Hermione replied. "But I wish you'd just ask me in the future."

"Well, you haven't been very forthcoming about details," James wanted to reply, but he kept his mouth shut. Saying that would lead to an argument which he didn't want to happen.

...oOo...

It was that evening, Sirius came barging into the room.

"So, I went through her things," he said, ignoring Remus' annoyed look.

"She's not a Death Eater, I checked her arm," James replied, not looking up from his magazine.

"She isn't, but she is something else," Sirius said. "You were right about her keeping a secret. It's a big one."

James put the magazine down, and Sirius opened his hand to reveal a time-turner.

"Maybe this will explain why no-one has ever heard of her, why she doesn't have parents or why she suddnely transfered here," Sirius said.

"Maybe she had a good reason," Remus tried.

Sirius scoffed. "Really? Surely she would have told us if that was the case, Remus. So, what are we going to do about this? Keep this to ourselves?"

James shook his head. They had invaded her privacy. "We're going to tell her that we know, and hope that she'll finally tell us the truth," he replied.

"We'll force her to tell us the truth, or tell everyone -"

"No," Remus snapped. "That's blackmail. You can't tell everyone her secret."

Sirius quickly closed his mouth.

"You're mean today," James muttered, glancing at Sirius.

"You like me even when I'm mean; I'm the Queen," Sirius coolly replied. "But Remus is right, we can't tell anyone. Sorry Moonpie, I wasn't thinking. You know I wouldn't have told anyone, I was just saying that maybe if she thought we were going to..."

Remus turned back to his book, still frowning, even as Sirius dropped down at his side, offering his puppy dog eyes.

"She came here and seemed to know us," James murmured. "It's possible that she knows us all in the future. Maybe she's here to help us somehow. It would explain why she turned up, looking as though she had been in a war."

"This war?" Sirius said. "How long does the war last?"

"She's muggleborn, so her younger self could be out there somewhere. The younger Hermione isn't at school so she's not old enough to attend, and our Hermione is eighteen. So we could be looking at around eight years, maybe more," James replied.

"So this is going to be one hell of a war," Sirius murmured.

"Unless she's here to stop it," Remus said softly.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

Thanks to everyone that is reading this/reviewing/favouriting/following. I have no idea what the next chapter will be as it depends on the prompts given. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading this. :)

It should tie in with one of the earlier chapters, where they confront Hermione about the time-turner they found.


	8. Saving Regulus

**Flying Lessons:** **Task:** For this stage of your collection, you should include a third party to your relationship. Based on the pairing that you are writing for, you will be given a selection of six characters to choose from. The third party must have a negative impact on the relationship in some manner: but it is up to you to decide how they will negatively impact on your relationship.

Prompt: Bottle of Firewhiskey

Character: Regulus Black

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: Saving Regulus**

* * *

James sat in the small flat that his friends had just moved into, nursing a small glass of firewhiskey.

"More," he ordered, slightly pathetically, holding the glass out. Sirius picked up the bottle of firewhiskey, filling the glass, before filling his own.

"James, not that we don't want you here," Remus began, carefully avoiding the mention of what they had been planning to do before James appeared in the floo, "but there's clearly something on your mind."

James shrugged his shoulders. "It's Hermione, she's gone out again. Say's she's working on something."

Remus nodded, not understanding what the problem was. It was only six-pm. Hermione wasn't the type to stay out late after all.

"With Regulus," he added.

"You think she's cheating on you?" Sirius asked, leaning forward.

James quickly shook his head. "I'm just being a prat, I know she wouldn't do that. It's just she's been so busy recently… she cancelled dinner the other night, and I bought a ring and everything."

"A ring?" Remus asked, raising his eyebrows. "Like an engagement ring?"

James nodded pathetically.

"Why did she cancel?" Remus asked.

"She had plans with Regulus that couldn't wait," James mumbled, drinking half the glass of firewhiskey in one gulp. "Hopefully whatever they're doing doesn't take much longer."

"Have you said anything to her about it?" Sirius asked, sitting back, barely touching the firewhiskey as he brought his glass to his lips.

"Like what?" James muttered. "Whatever I say will sound like I don't trust her. I do trust her, I just feel left out. I mean, look at all the crap I put her through in school. All the Lily business, searching through her stuff and practically forcing her to tell us where she came from. I can't be an arse again."

"Our little James, all grown up and acting like an adult," Sirius teased.

There was a long silence, the men all bringing their glasses to their lips, though James threw his drink back, setting the empty glass down on the table.

"Pads… be honest," James begged. "Does he have better hair than me?"

…oOo…

Hermione turned up at her little flat, surprised to find Remus relaxing on her sofa, reading one of her books. She sat down next to him, leaning against him, seeking comfort that seemed to radiate from him.

"Whatever you're doing, you need to include James," Remus began.

Hermione leaned away, her eyes narrowing slightly. She opened her mouth to answer, but Remus cut her off quickly.

"James hasn't said anything to you because of everything else from school and he doesn't want you to think that he doesn't trust you, because he does! He doesn't even know I'm here. He's feeling left out. He's included you in every part of his life now, even asking you to live with him. You on the other hand…" Remus trailed off, sighing deeply. "I get that with your time-travelling, you've got things that you need to do - but we're your friends, James is your boyfriend. Clearly whatever you're doing, Regulus knows. So why not us?"

Hermione bit her lip. "What I'm doing is saving his life."

"Saving Regulus?" Remus asked, turning to look at her properly. "Is it dangerous?"

"He's not the usual Death Eater," Hermione insisted. "In fact, he regrets his choices. He does something to weaken Voldemort and dies in the process. The day is coming."

"Does Regulus know?"

Hermione shook her head. "I've been working on Regulus since school, he trusts me. In four days, he's going to do his task and die. If there's a second person, we can save him."

"And you don't think Sirius should know this - they are brothers after all," Remus stated.

"I knew if I spoke about it, you'd all insist on coming too, I don't want to risk any of you getting hurt."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Remus asked, glaring at her. "If you're worried that three grown wizards who are quite skilled in magic would get hurt, why are you so certain you're going to be safe?"

"I…" Hermione began. "I know what to expect."

"Hermione, James completely trusts you, so maybe you should trust him in return and talk to him about these things?"

...oOo...

The next morning, Hermione headed to the flat that Remus and Sirius lived in. She saw James passed out on the sofa and Sirius passed out in the armchair. The plates still out from the night before.

Hermione noticed the candles and the fresh flowers and snorted. Trust James not to notice that he had interrupted a romantic evening. She'd have to make it up to Sirius and Remus. She took a seat by James' feet, shaking one of his legs to get him to wake up.

"Hermione?" he muttered, looking at her.

"Remus came over last night and told me I should trust you with what's going on, so that's what I'm going to do. It's something Sirius needs to hear too."

She threw a couple of cushions at Sirius, watching him fall off the chair and onto the floor. "Moonpie," he wailed, glaring at Hermione. "The witch attacked me."

Hermione reached out with her foot, playfully kicking Sirius' leg and he swung his own out, trying to kick her back. "Remus!" He shouted.

Remus just stood in the doorway, rolling his eyes at the pair. Sirius turned his glare on Remus, who was clearly failing to protect him, before getting to his feet and trying to storm out of the room, clutching his blanket around him. Remus shook his head, telling Sirius to sit down.

Sirius sat down in the seat, his eyes narrowed at Hermione.

Hermione stifled a giggle. Sirius was definitely not a morning person.

"Hermione, maybe before Sirius tries to hex us all so he can escape to the bedroom?"

"Oh, right," she said. "So, I've been spending as much time as I can with Regulus. I believe you'd all like to know why."

Sirius muttered something under his breath. Hermione could make out only a few words including 'whiny' and 'Death Eater'.

"In my timeline, Regulus is dead. In this timeline, unless changes are made, Regulus will be dead in three days now."

Sirius woke up pretty quickly at those words. "So what," he said, trying to sound like he didn't care, though everything else about him showed that he cared quite a lot. "He chose his path."

"He didn't," Hermione said. "He was lost without you and wanted to make your parents proud. He didn't realise just what being a Death Eater took. He defies Voldemort and dies."

"So… what was your plan?" James asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I was going to go on the mission with him and stop him dying."

"He wouldn't let you -"

"I didn't say I was going to have his permission," Hermione pointed out. "Actually, I was going to turn up and stop the Inferi from dragging him under the water."

"Right, we're going," James decided.

"I don't need -"

"Inferi, Hermione," James snapped. "You wouldn't allow me to go alone, there's no way you are."

"He needs protection too," Hermione said. "The Death Eaters will be after him, wanting to kill him. He's a good person, he does the right thing in the end. He just got in too deep and had no way out." Her gaze moved to Sirius. "He misses you, he told me himself."

Sirius didn't reply for a long time.

"I'm in too," he finally announced.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

Thanks to everyone that is reading this/reviewing/favouriting/following. The next chapter may be Hermione arriving in the Marauder Era if I can get the prompt to fit :)


	9. Where It All Began

**Hogwarts - Flying Lessons** **:** For this stage of your collection, you should include some form of  physical or mental illness onto one or both sides of your relationship. The illness could be a recent affliction, or it could have been something that the victim has suffered with for a long time. It's completely up to you. You should choose one of the illnesses from the extra prompts list below, but if you absolutely would not like to use any of those, you are welcome to message me and let me know what you will be choosing instead. **Illness:** Depression **Extra Prompt** : Muggle Computer

 **Game of Life -** Race, Sweat, 300 words min

 **The Sims Challenge** \- Weather: Watch the Rain! _Prompt:_ _(task) Someone is watching the rain from indoors (200)_

 **Chocolate Frog Challenge** _-_ (Silver): Leprechaun - Challenge: Write about good luck.

 **Bad Movies Tuesdays Challenge -** [season] Summer

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: Where It All Began**

* * *

Hermione curled up in her old bedroom, ignoring the sound of her mother talking to her. Ignoring the breeze from her window, bringing in the scent of the flowers that her mother had planted that Summer.

She paid no mind to the cheerful sunshine streaming onto the bed, wishing that her mother had just left it all shut, leaving her to drown in the darkness of the room.

It wasn't as if Harry would ever see this sun or feel this breeze again. Remus wouldn't be able to sit under the beautiful bright stars with Sirius.

Neville… Neville would never be able to tend his plants again.

It all made her sick to her stomach. That she had failed some of her friends. Why had she managed to survive when they hadn't?

...oOo...

Her mother had researched depression on the computer in the corner of the living room, but Hermione knew that she wouldn't be able to find the right sort of help. Hermione had come from a war. She had witnessed death and destruction. She had undergone torture.

Muggles didn't understand - they didn't know about magic. They couldn't help her.

Their medication would dampen down her magic, and she wasn't willing to give that up - the last thing linking her to the world where everyone that mattered to her lay.

She vaguely began to browse the internet, the words time-travel catching her interest for a mere moment before she clicked away.

The internet wouldn't help with that.

...oOo...

The words stayed in her mind and she couldn't stop thinking of them. She fell asleep, a picture of Harry in her mind. They were dancing together, but the longer the dream lasted, the more she came to realise that the dream wasn't normal.

This wasn't Harry. This wasn't the tent.

Her dress was revealed, one of pure white. tiny blue flowers were woven into the bun on the back of her head.

Sirius and Remus kept stealing her away, getting her to dance with them, a frowning James taking her back in his arms, only to lose her again.

The words pressed against her mind, not letting her forget them.

Time Travel.

...oOo...

She stared at the food on her plate, not wanting to touch it. She felt empty inside, like she couldn't even pretend to be happy. The months had passed, but Hermione had missed it. She hadn't noticed Summer disappearing, leaving Autumn in it's wake.

She forced it as much as possible, trying to smile for her concerned father. Trying to eat a bit of food for her worried mother. They saw through it. Hermione had never been very good at pretending these things.

The dreams haunted her night after night, making her wake up in a sweat. She could feel her heart race under her touch. She shouldn't have been dreaming about James Potter's body covering hers, his lips on her neck as he entered her.

The girl in the dream shouldn't have been allowing that - pulling him closer, desperately searching for his lips. Her nails digging into his skin.

No.

She should be thinking of her friends, not having dreams about Harry's dead father. It was wrong.

She didn't allow herself to fall back asleep - instead, her eyes fell on the raindrops pounding against her bedroom window.

Instead of the comfort the noise had always provided, her thoughts were drawn to Remus, who had mentioned his love of the sound of rain, and to Neville who always enjoyed the rain, happy that his plants would thrive in the weather.

Those thoughts kept her away from her dreams.

...oOo...

The Felix Felicis didn't take too long to brew for someone like Hermione. She apparated outside of the Ministry before taking enough of the potion to last her a couple of hours - after all, she might need the rest if she failed.

She headed down to the Department, though some force was driving her - and as luck would have it, the whole place was empty.

She found the room which contained the time turners quickly enough, before leaving again - the one she had found wasn't the golden one she remembered - this was pure white sand. Somehow she just knew it was what she needed.

She silently thanked the potion.

It didn't take long, and her instincts were pushing her to go to Hogwarts. She followed them, through the view of the place made her feel sick. Her body shook and the tears flowed from her eyes again.

The potion still in her system, Hermione decided to head to the hospital wing. As she approached the doors, she fell, though she could have sworn that nothing was there.

The timer began to spin, Hermione reached for it, halting it, before it threw her back, faster visions than ever before.

She fell to a heap on the ground, feeling sick and weak - She attempted to get up, but her body ached. It was only minutes before she felt arms wrap around her.

"I've never seen her before," came a voice as she tried not to black out from the travel. Her eyes fell on dark messy hair and kind hazel eyes.

"Hey there, beautiful, what's your name?" the teen asked. She heard the sound of the doors opening and could see the ceiling of the hospital wing as she was carried inside.

She was almost overwhelmed with the feeling of familiarity, though she knew this wasn't Harry. She couldn't help but cling to him slightly, seeking comfort.

"Hermione," she whispered.

His grip tightened, as though he understood what she was seeking, and doing his best to offer it back to her. "I'm James Potter. Looks like you've had quite the fall," he commented. "Don't worry, Madam Pomfrey will have your leg and anything else fixed up quickly."

She was placed on a bed, and forced her eyes open wider.

There in front of her, wearing a Quidditch Uniform and an easy-going smile, was James Potter. She watched as he pulled up a chair, sitting down just as Madam Pomfrey began doing spells and asking questions that Hermione wasn't prepared to answer.

She had gone much further back in time than she had expected.

"Hey now, don't cry," came a comforting voice from next to her. "My friend, Remus, he swears by chocolate. Here, we always have a supply on us for him. Have some, you'll feel better."

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

Thanks to everyone that is reading this/reviewing/favouriting/following.


	10. James' Worst Fear

**Written for:**

 **Flying Lesson - Assignment 10:** Task: Write about one or both sides of your relationship telling quite a bad lie. It is up to you what this lie is about, but it cannot be something small and white - it has to be a lie that could potentially end the relationship. **Prompt:** (colour) Cerulean

 **Bad Movie Tuesdays Challenge** \- [plot device] Unplanned pregnancy

 **Chocolate Frog Trading Challenge** \- (Silver): Boggart -  Challenge: Write about a character's worst fear.

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: James' Worst Fear**

* * *

Hermione walked down to Hogsmeade, the early risers a short distance behind. She was glad that she had been given Hogsmeade duties on such a wonderful day - Severus Snape had to supervise the previous visit, and it had poured down.

She took her time, the students dragging their own feet, not wanting to walk with a Professor, but Hermione didn't mind in the slightest. She had no doubt that her friends and husband would show up sometime before lunch.

Until then, she had errands to run, supplies to replace and a bookshop to peruse.

...oOo...

It all happened so quickly. Hermione had been studying the display in the window. Did robes really need to be Cerulean? They looked like something that Lockhart would wear.

That was when she felt the press on the wards around the town and panic filled her. There should be nothing touching the wards - they were there for the student's safety after all - only allowing residents and employees of Hogsmeade and the castle in.

If someone was messing with the wards...

Hermione shot a patronus off to James, knowing that it was better to be safe than sorry. She didn't even give it a message - the otter was more than enough for him to know that there was something wrong.

He would alert the Order.

She grabbed a seventh year that she knew had passed his apparition test. "Apparate to the castle gates and alert the Headmaster to come at one," she hissed, looking around. The student hesitated.

"Do it now," she snapped, making the girl jump in fright.

The student disappeared and Hermione looked around. Students were milling around, unaware - but she could see Sirius Black heading in her direction, his wand held discreetly at his side.

"Something is up," he murmured.

Hermione nodded her head. "A student is heading to the castle now," she said. "I've sent James a patronus too."

"The wards are slowly being pulled down," Sirius whispered, not wanting any students to overhear.

"We need to get the students into Honeydukes," Hermione hissed.

"The passage? But how do you know -"

Hermione snorted. "I've known about it since my third year," she replied. "I have it warded these days, so only students and Professors can get through, just in case anything ever happened and we needed an escape either from the castle, or to the castle."

Sirius nodded. "You work on the shops and I'll head over the bridge and start rounding up."

"Are you the only Auror on duty?"

Sirius nodded. "No-one expected trouble here," he murmured. "Get the students to safety and hide - keep safe."

"You too." she replied. She turned around, spotting a group of seventh years. "Spread out and tell every student you see to get to Honeydukes basement," she said. "Pass the message on for everyone to go this instant! It's an emergency."

Her tone of voice caused the Hufflepuffs to quickly split up, rushing their separate ways to pass the message on. Hermione quickly headed into Honeydukes to inform the old man behind the counter.

...oOo…

Students were moving fast, packing themselves into Honeydukes and Hermione tested the wards once more. She could feel Sirius' magic fighting against the intrusion, trying to buy time, and added her own.

She couldn't believe that only a few minutes had passed. She assumed that the Patronus would have reached James at the Ministry by now, or that the student who returned to the castle would have alerted the staff.

She tired quickly, holding the spell until the last second, before finding Sirius next to her. Some of the seventh years lingered, their wands drawn.

Hermione felt panic settle in, her hand moving down to rest on her stomach. She shouldn't be fighting, but she couldn't just leave now.

Sirius' eyes followed the movement.

"Get her into Honeydukes now," he roared at the closest student, his eyes moving straight back to her stomach.

Hermione felt a hand gently wrap around her arm, but she pulled away. "No, I have to protect -"

"Are you insane, Hermione? If someone is coming through, you are in no physical state to be fighting. You go, or I'll tie you up and drag you there myself," Sirius demanded.

Unfortunately, Hermione knew he wasn't joking. He had done just that during her pregnancy with Sirius' own child - of course she wasn't bound tightly at the time, just enough for him to force her to go to bed when she had spent hours on her feet and was exhausted. He hadn't wanted to stupefy her and that seemed like the safest way.

She looked around, spotting the teachers rushing in their direction. She nodded at Sirius.

"Go with her, make sure she stays safe," he said to the students nearby.

...oOo...

She had intended to go, but the arrival of James and Remus had distracted her briefly. She had paused, ensuring they were alright, before continuing. But by the time she had arrived, the path to Honeydukes had been blocked and Hermione had used a disillusionment spell to keep herself out of sight.

She had been making her way towards the Shrieking Shack, intent on hiding inside, until she spotted Sirius fall to the ground. Bellatrix Lestrange stood over him, a cruel and twisted smile on her lips and her wand twirling in her fingers.

Hermione was closer to them than to safety, and hadn't she made a promise to keep them safe?

She couldn't leave Sirius to the hands of Bellatrix.

"Stupefy," she murmured, but Bellatrix seemed to be expecting it. She spun around and shot a spell towards Hermione.

Hermione shielded herself against the orange light that came her way, sending a few hexes. She had hoped to take Bellatrix down, hoping that since she hadn't long been a Death-Eater, that she wouldn't be as knowledgeable with magic as her older self.

A mistake on Hermione's part.

They duelled for only seconds before a spell hit Hermione, sending her falling to the ground in agony. She distantly heard James' roar as everything went black.

...oOo...

The room was dark when she opened her eyes. She drank down the potion that Remus pressed against her lips, taking seconds before everything was clear.

The curtains were pulled open.

"Mrs Potter," came a soft voice, and Hermione's eyes widened at a woman with brown hair and Luna's eyes stared at her. "You were hit with a dangerous hex, but we've managed to stop it causing too much damage. Most of the damage is to your shoulder and upper breast, but it's only skin deep."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.

"And the baby remains in perfect health."

Hermione couldn't help her gaze flicking in Remus' direction. Unfortunately for her, James appeared to be standing beside her friend.

"I was hoping you weren't aware," he uttered coldly. "But judging by the look on your face, I suspect that you did in fact know."

Hermione was speechless.

"Well, I'll be back to do some more tests in a while," the Healer said, looking slightly worried about having let the cat out of the bag. She quickly left the room.

James watched her leave, before turning back to Hermione. "When we found out… just hours ago, I thought you hadn't known, because I knew there was no way my wife would have been… crazy enough to go into battle whilst pregnant. But clearly I was wrong about that."

"I didn't plan to join in," Hermione began.

"You engaged Bellatrix," James snapped. "One moment you weren't there, and then you were. You could have stayed hidden."

"She took Sirius down," Hermione replied, feeling tears prickling at the back of her eyes. She forced them back.

"That's the risk of being an Auror and an Order member," James stated, even more coldly than before. "I was close, I was ready to take her down, before her attentions were on you. I spent it instead, by throwing a shield over you. Someone else came after me, I was distracted for just a second and in that time, Bellatrix had you on the ground. You could have died, Hermione! Our child could have died!"

"I wasn't thinking," Hermione admitted. "I thought she was going to kill him."

"Your job is not to protect us," James said, his voice getting louder to drown her excuses out. "Your job from the moment you fell pregnant, was to protect our child. For Merlin's sake - you're almost three months pregnant, and you didn't even think to tell me! If I had known, I would have ensured that I was with Sirius in Hogsmeade today to look after you."

"I don't need looking -"

"You clearly do," James shouted desperately. "That curse could have killed our child, yet you didn't take that into account. Do you think Remus or Sirius would have done the same - do you think they would have risked the life of their child to save someone else?"

"If he had died -"

"We're Aurors," James shouted, drowning her out once more. "We're trained to take these hits. What do you think we do in our training schedules? We know when our partner is hurt too. You don't even know if Sirius was hit, or if he deflected the spell and was faking it. Your child should be the most valuable thing to you; you should have gotten out of there. Why didn't you?"

"Sirius told me to when he realised, and I tried, but Honeydukes was blocked when I got there - I doubled back, looking for somewhere safe and saw Sirius, and thought I could take Bellatrix -"

"Do you hear yourself?" James asked, desperately. "You're not concerned in the slightest about the baby - only about your role in the fight today. This is not your war, Hermione. You've fought in your war. This is our war. You can't be the hero here - not with a child inside you -"

"Convenient," she muttered, giving up. "You seem to care an awful lot, considering you didn't want it in the first place!"

"If our child's life means so little to you, you're clearly not the woman I thought you were when I courted you or when I married you," James spat. He turned and walked from the room, slamming the door behind him - Remus following behind.

...oOo...

She couldn't stop the tears. Her knees drawn towards her chest, she rested her arms on them and her head on top, crying into her forearms.

"Why didn't you tell him?" She looked up, spotting Sirius in the doorway. The expression on his face told her that he knew what had happened in there. Hermione had no doubts that Remus had gone straight to Sirius when he had left.

"Remus is most upset that you didn't confide in him," Sirius continued, his voice soft as he moved closer.

"Are you here to tell me off too?" Hermione whispered.

"Merely to thank you," Sirius said. "I have to agree with James on pretty much everything, but I still owe you my life. I just want to understand. If I had to choose between my son and you for saving, I would choose him every-time. Why don't you feel the same about yours?"

"I do," she whispered. "I don't want anything to happen to the baby."

Sirius took a seat on the edge of the hospital bed. "Then why… I mean why didn't you even tell James?"

"Because he doesn't want a baby," she murmured. "He told me almost three months ago that he's not ready for one yet. How could I then tell him that I was already pregnant? That I was pregnant within weeks of giving birth to yours?"

"So what were you going to do? Hope he didn't notice?" Sirius snorted.

"I don't know," Hermione replied. "Things were perfect until… I didn't want to risk them going wrong. It was stupid what I did in Hogsmeade, I would never risk my child… but I thought I could get Bellatrix in that one hit. I wasn't trying to engage her. I merely underestimated her. I was disillusioned, trying to find somewhere safe. I saw her and let the need for..." she trailed off.

"You could have alerted one of us somehow," Sirius replied. "James had the cloak, he could have gotten it to you. As for him not wanting a baby… how do you truly know? You said he was this age when he fathered one back in your old time. What are you…" he trailed off, seeing the uncertain look in her eyes.

"You think it's you," he guessed. "You believe that he doesn't want a baby with you!"

"What does it matter," she whispered, leaning back against the pillow, ignoring his fingers pushing away the tears from her cheeks. "He's not going to forgive me for any of this. I've never heard him so angry in all the time I've known him. I've really screwed his up, haven't I?"

"Why do you say that?"

"He left," she replied, turning her head away.

"But he didn't go far," Sirius replied. "He couldn't really leave you, no matter how angry he was. He's pacing the hallway, worried about you and the baby. He's scared. He could have lost a child he didn't even know existed."

"He's still here?" Hermione replied.

"You know he's going to be a right hassle for you to live with. He's not going to let you go anywhere alone, he's going to be even more protective of you than he was when you were carrying ours. He's not going to trust your judgement on these situations and he won't believe that you can protect yourself."

"Maybe he's right to think that," she admitted. "He's right about it all. I just couldn't see you hurt, Sirius. I wasn't even thinking about our baby. I try and forget that I'm pregnant sometimes, because of how scared I've been. I think that in the battle, I was so used to pretending, that I actually didn't think."

"And now the truth is out," Sirius sighed. "And he's angry because you never told him." His gaze shifted to the door. "But now is the time to clear the air."

He stood up from the bed and placed a kiss to her forehead. "Congratulations," he murmured, patting James on the shoulder before passing.

"I heard everything," he announced, before Hermione could ask. "I wanted to wait to have the baby, it didn't mean that I didn't want one. You should have told me."

"I should have," she agreed.

"You shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that. I know you couldn't help what happened at the village, but you should have stayed hidden or alerted me. You should have told me the truth."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Hermione, I can't keep doing this. From the day I've met you, you've been full of secrets. Lying to us, disappearing, putting yourself in danger. I'm made mistakes and not trusted you in the past, and I've changed all that. I trusted you more than anything. I thought we were past the childish secrets and I thought you trusted me too. I can't handle a marriage where I can't trust my wife to tell me the truth when it's important."

"I do trust you," she said. "I was scared, James. I was ready to tell you, but you said you didn't want kids and I panicked and I tried to tell you, but every-time I brought kids up in conversation, you said the same thing each time. I thought that you'd leave once you found out."

James sighed, sitting down next to her and taking her hand, bringing it to his lips. "By now, you should trust me enough to know that I would never leave you for something like this. Everyone has their secrets, everyone lies - even if it's a lie by omission. But small secrets like being the one that ate the last slice of Remus' chocolate cake, or lying about liking my mum's ugly old vase… those are the only lies should exist between us. Not this."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"And your potions?"

"I haven't been making them," Hermione said. "I'm not due until the beginning of August either, so school would be over. I've thought all that through."

There was a long silence as James thought over the situation.

"I can forgive you. Can you forgive my ignorance at not realising that you were talking about children for a reason?" he finally asked.

"I can," Hermione whispered.

"But no more secrets, and no more risks, agreed?"

She nodded her head, the tears spilling once more as his comforting arms wrapped around her. She had been so scared of losing him. She whispered this to him and he smiled into her hair.

"You know I would never be able to leave you, Hermione. We had to deal with a Boggart the other day. Do you know what it was?"

She shook her head.

"It was you. My greatest fear is losing you. I have no doubts that the next boggart will extend to our child too. I love you."

"I love you too, so much," she replied.

"I would gladly throw myself in front of any curse to keep you or our child safe - knowing that Sirius and Remus would still be there to protect you - but I couldn't live without you, Hermione, if something had happened. Don't ever scare me like that again!"

* * *

 **There really should only be 2 chapters left of this collection, but I may continue it if prompts inspire me, as I don't feel like it's near completion yet.**

 **Review Please :)**

 **Thanks to Firefly for the help!**


	11. The Storm

**Written for:**

 **Flying Lesson - Assignment 11 -** **Task:** For this task, the weather will play a big part of your chapter. I want you to take one of the following weather conditions and use it as a problematic issue in your story. For example, if you choose a heatwave, maybe the characters are suffering from blackouts and sunstroke. If they choose a storm, perhaps someone is afraid of it and must be consoled. The weather conditions MUST be a clear issue within your story. **Weather Prompt Used:** Storm/Thunderstorm/Electric Storm. **Remaining Prompt from list** : Mermaid

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: The Storm**

* * *

 _It had been only a few months since Hermione had arrived at Hogwarts and she had already had a good few falling outs with Lily Evans._

 _She had expected Lily to be sweet and kind - the Lily that Remus told stories about, but it was clear that this Lily and the Lily Remus remembered were not the same._

 _Unless Remus was being nice, telling Harry wonderful stories about his mother, rather than say that Lily Evans was a bitch._

 _Hermione fixed her pillow on the sofa in the Common Room: Lily's nasty comments about her shouldn't have bothered her, but they did - just because it was her best friend's mother who was making them._

 _Hermione couldn't help it if she couldn't sleep because of the storm._

 _She wondered if it was because of James? That Lily was jealous that James had taken it upon himself to look after her._

 _Hermione unfolded the blanket she had brought down with her, laying it across the sofa, before setting up some wards: she trusted the students, but didn't want anyone to sneak up on her whilst she was sleeping - she didn't trust the Marauders to not prank her._

 _She picked up her book on Mermaids and began to read._

 _It was only about half-an-hour before she heard the portrait hole opening, though no-one was there. She watched the empty space for a bit before she felt the tingle of her wards._

 _Hermione's wand was in her hand in seconds, and Sirius quickly threw the cloak off himself and Remus._

 _"Relax," he insisted, holding his hands up as though he was surrendering. She lowered her wand at the sight of the pair._

 _"Chocolate muffin?" Remus asked, opening the tub he was holding and offering Hermione one. She smiled and took one._

 _"So, what are you doing down here? Are you sleeping in here?" Sirius asked, his eyes on the blankets._

 _"I can't sleep," Hermione admitted. "The storm keeps me awake at night and Lily... well, I decided I'd rather sleep down here."_

 _Sirius' eyes narrowed. "Is she giving you trouble?"_

 _Hermione snorted. "Nothing I can't handle. I just didn't want to deal with it at this time of night."_

 _"So... what has made you so scared of storms?" Sirius asked, looking towards Remus._

 _"My past," she admitted. "Nightmares. The storm reminds me of the lowest points. Does the storm keep you awake?"_

 _Sirius hesitated for a long time. "It does," he admitted. "For both of us. It's the anger of the storm, the violence. We both have things we'd like to forget but..." he trailed off._

 _"Don't worry, you don't need to tell me," Hermione whispered, already knowing what affected the pair. "Have a good night you two." She went to turn back to her book, but was surprised when Sirius and Remus sat down next to her._

 _"We were going to eat these upstairs, but maybe we could keep you company for a few minutes whilst we do," Remus said._

 **...oOo...**

Hermione knocked softly on the door to the boy's dorm. In the day, she usually just walked in, but it was night-time, and she felt strange heading here.

Even if she was dating James Potter and had slept in his bed whenever he was with the Marauders during the full-moon.

The door opened slightly and Sirius blinked at her, the light from her wand hurting his eyes.

"Everything alright, luv?" he muttered, pushing the door open slightly.

"I couldn't sleep," Hermione admitted. "The storm... nightmares."

She knew that, with Sirius, it really was that simple. Though they had such different experiences, he seemed to understand her more than anyone. She had overheard the older Sirius make jokes about his families treatment of him and knew he was no stranger to torture or nightmares.

Though, his nightmares only usually happened when Remus was away on Order business and wasn't there to help him.

"Padfoot?" came James' voice. "What's going on?"

Sirius put his arm around Hermione and led her into the room, closing the door behind her. "She can't sleep," he explained. "But I'm not willing to share Moony, I need him to keep away my own nightmares. You'll have to do."

He grinned at Hermione, before placing a kiss on her forehead. "Sleep well, okay?"

She could hear the concern behind the grin and leer he shot her as he headed back to his own bed, where Remus was sprawled out, fast asleep. She wondered briefly why Remus was frowning so deeply.

She watched Sirius slip into Remus' arms and the frown disappear quickly, before turning her gaze to James' bed.

"I used to love storms," she whispered, meeting James' gaze. "I thought they were beautiful, I loved watching the lightening light up the sky and listen to the crashes of thunder during the storm. Now, the noises make me feel ill, they make me panic. I know they can't hurt me, they can't do anything, and I know it's silly, but -"

James was off the bed and had her in his arms in a flash. "Hermione, after everything you've been through, you don't need to explain yourself to me like this. I'm not going to judge you just for needing me during the storm." His eyes fell on Sirius' bed. "Sirius is the same, though I don't invite him to sleep next to me."

"I bet you don't, you're too scared of what Remus would do to you," Hermione teased, her arms still clutching her pillow between them.

"You're welcome to join me whenever you have a nightmare or whenever there is a storm," he insisted. "I love you, and I'll protect you from anything that you fear or that could harm you. Storms included."

He led Hermione over to his bed and grabbed his wand, casting a warming spell on all the sheets before she slipped under them.

"Oh, that is warm, I've never thought of doing that," Hermione admitted as James walked around the bed and slipped in on the other side, fixing the covers around them.

James pulled Hermione into his arms. "Sleep well, love," he whispered, his lips meeting her tangle of hair.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

 **Thanks to Lynn for betaing**


	12. The End, Or a New Beginning

**Written for:**

 **Flying Lesson -** **Task:** For this task, you are focusing on **endings**. This chapter, whether or not it is part of a multi-chap or a series of oneshots, should focus on something ending for your couple. This does not have to be the relationship traditionally ending, however. You could use the theme of endings for a variation of different things that could happen within the story. Perhaps the couple are moving on in their lives to another chapter - this could be getting married, and ending their engagement or previous relationship. Maybe they are saying goodbye to a negative influence in their lives. It is completely up to you how you want to approach this theme!

Prompts:

(quote) "The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected." - Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

(plot) People are watching the stars in the story

 **Ultimate Battle -** (Normal) Silver Greaves [lower body armour] (It was just Gladiator greaves but Magnolia decided to polish it and try to pull it off as Silver greaves. Equip Effect: Ignore 4 Characterization dmg.) - price: 600 words, any era other than Trio

* * *

 **Twelve Moments In Time: The End, Or a New Beginning**

* * *

Hermione held the small baby in her arms, cradling him to her chest. "What do you want to name him?" she whispered, not lifting her eyes from the baby for a single moment.

James stared at the small baby for a long moment. "It's no good," he muttered, mostly to himself.

"What's no good?" Hermione asked, dragging her eyes away, slightly panicked. Things has been tense between the pair of them throughout the whole pregnancy, with Hermione fearing James would leave her. She believed the only reason he had stayed with her was because of the Healer stating that the stress from everything she had been through had caused so much damage to her body already, and James didn't want to cause any further damage.

She also believed that was why he hadn't argued with her. But not that the baby was born, things may change.

"Well, my grandfather... I had always pictured... I think you should pick a name."

"You want to name him after your Grandfather?" Hermione guessed, relieved that James wasn't trying to end things.

"Yeah... no. I mean, before, I always planned to name my son after him..."

"What's his name?" Hermione asked.

James took a deep breath. "Harry. His name was Harry. But I know you won't want -"

"Well, that was when I wasn't sure whether it was you or Lily that picked Harry's name," Hermione said. "But if that's the case, in my old life, you had picked your son's name then, so I can... I'm happy to..." she turned her attention back to the baby. "Welcome to the world, Harry James Potter."

Her heart pounded against her chest. She knew how important the date was. Harry had been born on the same day, after all, but she tried to forget about it as James sat down gently on the bed next to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"Thank you," he whispered, a hand reaching out to stroke through the thin wisps of dark hair on their son's head.

...oOo...

Hermione knew what was going to happen. She knew that Harry needed to be protected at all costs, and that there was a madman after him.

The letters had been left in possession of Alice Longbottom. She didn't know the importance of them, only that they would be given out on a certain date.

The day after Halloween.

That afternoon, she smiled at James, insisting that he head off to see Sirius and Remus. She told him that she had a headache and needed a break and that she'd take a nap at the same time as Harry. Once he was gone, she carefully changed the wards to her own wards and took down the Fidilius charm.

After all, they couldn't hide forever. She wasn't going to allow it. She knew Voldemort would never stop trying to find Harry. But she could stop him from getting Harry and she could give everyone ten years to take down Voldemort - Horcruxes and all.

This time, there was no James to try and stop Voldemort in the hall, as he entered the house. This time, Hermione knew what was coming - she knew whose footsteps those were on the stairs. She stood in front of her son, begging Voldemort to see reason. She tried to make him feel remorse, knowing that his soul would reattach itself if he did. It was a tiny hope, but it was all she had.

She knew what she was doing - she knew she was giving her life for that of her son. So he could grow up in the Wizarding world. So he could have friends and not have to worry about war. So he didn't have to go on the run. He would still have James and the rest of his family.

The last thing she felt was the green light hit her, but she knew that her son, Harry, would be protected by her blood, and the blood ritual she had all but forced Sirius Black into, would keep Harry safe should anything ever happen to James.

...oOo...

"She's stirring."

Hermione took a few deep breaths, her body aching. She couldn't see anything, the room was dark.

"Hermione?"

"Mum?" Hermione whispered, recognising the voice.

"It's her! She's awake. Thank goodness. Hermione dear, what... you..."

"Mum? Dad?" she whispered. "Where am I?"

"You fainted," her mother said. "A Wizard turned up and... you're in the Wizard Hospital. It's strange, but you look... older."

"How are you both here? Muggles can't see the place." She felt two hands in her own.

"A very nice Wizard pulled out all the stops to get us access," her father confirmed.

Hermione groaned. "What..." she trailed off as all her memories of the last few years hit her. "No," she whispered, lifting her arms and putting them over her face as the tears ran.

"There's a boy called Harry here to see you."

Hermione could only nod, swiping the tears away desperately as her father helped her sit up. Her gaze fell on a boy with messy black hair.

Just as she remembered him.

"Harry? What happened?" she asked. "Did I change anything? You're alive this time at least."

He moved closer, looking completely lost for words.

"Harry? What's the..." she gasped. "Your eyes? They aren't green?"

"Why would they be green?" he asked, confused.

She stared into brown eyes. "I'm just as confused as you are," she whispered.

Before she could say anything more, the door crashed open, with four Wizards rushing in. "Hermione? What do you remember?" Sirius asked, rushing forward and grabbing her. Her father stood up, glaring at Sirius.

"She's not well, I suggest you be a little bit more gentle with her," he said, in the voice that Hermione used to hate hearing - the one that meant that she was in trouble.

Sirius loosed his grip.

"I remember... that Harry shouldn't have brown eyes," she said, laughing shakily. "I have no idea what's going on. My Harry had green eyes, but my little Harry had brown."

Sirius grinned. "You're you!" he exclaimed. He turned around, looking at the pair behind him. "It's her!"

Remus came forward, wrapping his arms around her and she clung to him. James was the last, and she stared at him in complete shock. She barely noticed the younger Wizard slinking off to the side.

"That was a dirty trick you pulled," he began. "But I was never mad about it. I didn't know what would happen since you changed time and... I mean, the you that Harry met in Hogwarts wasn't actually you, and we wondered what would happen when you reached the age where you..."

"Mum, Dad," she said, turning to the pair. "I didn't actually faint. I travelled back in time... I was there for about four years. I... well, I thought I was going to be there forever. I started a new life, I got married. I had a son."

The pair looked completely and utterly shocked. "How far back did you travel?" her mother asked.

"Well, let's put it this way. If I had stayed there, I'd be around the same age as these three," she gestured to Remus, Sirius and James.

"So... do you want to introduce us to your family?"

"I'm not sure, he may have moved on, or..." she trailed off, tears in her eyes at the thought of James having moved on and found someone else - of her little Harry calling someone else 'mummy'.

"Of course I didn't," James replied, frowning at the very idea. "You're the love of my life, Hermione. I figured that the younger you wouldn't have the need to travel back in time and just waited to find out what to do. I thought maybe I'd be too old, or you may never remember, but I took the risk and waited, because I only wanted to be with you."

"So... we're still married?" she whispered.

James nodded, smiling at the hopeful look on Hermione's face.

"When I woke up and saw Harry, before I realised... I thought that I hadn't changed much. I thought... I thought that I may never see you again. The thought of you not being with me, hurt," she said.

"The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected," James replied. "I've been away from you for so long, and then had to watch the other Hermione growing up, dating boys... though Harry and Eridanus seemed to keep them away from you for the most part. I knew that she wasn't my Hermione, and I just waited and hoped... and now you're here. Merlin, I can't believe it!"

"And this is my Harry? Our Harry?" she asked. "Not the Harry from my original time?"

James nodded. "Our son," he confirmed. Hermione looked around, finding Harry in the corner along with a shy looking boy with black hair and amber eyes, who was watching her with a awed look.

"Eridanus," she murmured. "Is that you? You look so much like your fathers. Harry - my Harry! My boys!"

The pair ran over to her, arms wrapping around her tightly. "Merlin, Hermione. We didn't expect to find out you were our mum, but -"

"You're both of their mum?" Hermione's mum said, sounding faint.

"Surrogacy," Sirius explained, his arm around Remus. "Hermione got herself pregnant with Harry within weeks of giving us our boy."

"You're both so grown," she murmured. "And I... did I see you grow up? Do we know each other in this timeline?"

"We do," Harry said, pulling back from her. "You mothered us both here. We don't know what we would have done without you. We were friends!"

"How did that happen?" Hermione asked, clutching one of each of their hands.

"Well, me and Eridanus were friends, and we were in the same dorm as Ron, and you and him seemed to butt heads. You hung out with Neville a little bit, but then Ron was nasty to you after class one day..."

"Yeah, I remember that, it happened in my time. Please tell me we didn't fight a troll."

"You fought a..." Harry trailed off, looking to Eridanus for help. "A troll? How? When?"

"We came to find you," Eridanus added. "And we started looking out for you from that point really. Weasley didn't like it, but we didn't care. It just felt right to look out for you. We stopped talking to Weasley after that."

Hermione smiled.

"And once, when we fell out, we moaned to our dads about you and they all went mental at us, telling us that no matter what, we had to look after you. We didn't really understand until we were thirteen and Remus took a job at the school and Snape caused trouble and hinted at stuff. The pair of us started looking into it and managed to find the yearbook from the last year and found a picture of Hermione Granger with them." Eridanus continued.

"That was a weird day for us," Harry said. "We wrote home, demanding answers and the three of them turned up at Hogwarts and explained it all to us. We never told our Hermione because she wasn't the right Hermione at the time and we knew she'd freak out. We hoped that we could meet you though."

Hermione wiped the tears away again.

"Why did you..." Harry began, looking away.

"Because you'd spend the whole of your life hiding and running and I didn't want that for you," Hermione said. "I forced Sirius into a blood ritual weeks before, as he was the only one who would be willing to deal with the blood magic, that way if anything happened to James, Sirius would be the one to protect you. I wanted you to have a proper life and be happy, and there was only one way to do that. I left instructions on everything I knew about Voldemort - on every Death Eater. On all future events. All deaths. The Longbottoms attack... I wanted to know that if something happened to James, that Harry would be in good hands."

James' arms wrapped around her again. "I'm so glad you're you again," he breathed. "Love, I've missed you more than anything."

Hermione let go of the boy's hands, to cling to James.

"So... we have grandchildren?" Hermione's father murmured. "This was unexpected."

"But I don't understand why I'm here?" Hermione said. "I thought that once the spell hit me, that would be the end of it."

Remus moved forward. "I researched time-travel cases," he admitted. "I found some stories where the traveller went back to their own time, their memories intact. Some cases weren't so lucky. We hoped that you were on that would remember. James has been waiting for this moment for years."

"So what happens now?" Hermione asked. "Our house was destroyed."

"I had a feeling that you never much cared for that house," James said, with a smile. "I realised within a few weeks that you had planned all this and when we went into hiding and purchased the house, you had already decided what to do."

"I had," she admitted.

"Well, we all live in the Potter Estate. Remus and Sirius moved in to help me when I lost you, and they never left. If... when you're ready, you can come back. Any time you want, it's not the same as when you left it, but it's still got your things."

Hermione looked towards her parents.

"Your parents too," James insisted. "Whatever it takes to have my Hermione back."

"You already have me back," Hermione said, smiling at him. "You never lost me."

"I... I have a question," Harry said. "Why did you think I had green eyes?"

"In my old life, there was no Eridanus Lupin-Black, and the Harry Potter that I was best friends with, had green eyes. His mother was Lily Evans."

"Who is Lily Evans?" Harry asked.

"That's Snape's mum," Eridanus said, sneering at the name.

"The red-headed woman who hates Hermione?" Harry asked, causing Eridanus to nod.

"She only hates me because James chose me over her," Hermione replied smugly. "Even though she tried to break us up, it just didn't work."

James took her hand and turned it over, placing two rings into it, along with a gold chain.

"No pressure," he murmured. "In case you didn't want to wear them straight away, I thought -"

She dropped the chain down onto the bed, slipping the rings onto her left hand. "Of course I would want these. I'm your wife after all."

...oOo...

The pair sat hand in hand under the stars in the Potter Estate. Hermione had only been out of hospital for a few hours, but she had claimed to have spent enough time away from her Husband and Son. She insisted that her parents stay for a few nights, to stop her having to choose between everybody. The pair had accepted, understanding that James, Harry, Sirius, Remus and Eridanus were now also Hermione's family.

Sirius and Remus had retired to bed, due to the full moon the previous night, leaving Eridanus and Harry with Hermione's parents. The pair had dismissed the surrogacy mention, stating that Hermione had given birth to both of the boys, so they were both their Grandsons. Eridanus had been more than happy at the exclaimation.

Hermione and James had watched the Grangers talking to the boys for a while, before slipping outside into the garden, to sit on the grass and stare up at the stars.

"Will be be okay?" Hermione whispered.

James nodded. "I was devestated when I had lost you, I was so angry, but with the letter... I think, had it been the other way around, I would have done the same thing for Harry. That's when I realised that I couldn't be angry at you. I would have kept it a secret too. You put your son before everything, and I can't be mad at you over that. I stopped being mad within days of losing you. I love you, Hermione."

"I love you too," Hermione replied. "And the war?"

"All the Horcruxes are gone. Me, Sirius and Remus set up a controlled environment with some trusted Healers at St. Mungos. We... I won't go into details, but he's not a Horcrux anymore. We saved a lot of people thanks to you, and jailed quite a few too... but we still lost some."

Hermione could only nod, not ready to hear a list of names just yet.

"The war is over, and I'm with my family. I feel like I can finally let go of everything else," Hermione said. "My family are alive, my parents are here. There's nothing more I could want than this right here."

James' hand rested on her stomach. "Nothing at all?" he asked.

She couldn't help but smile. "Well, maybe a couple of things."

...oOo...

Hermione fixed her hair and put on the red dress her mother had bought for her. She smiled at Harry and Eridanus, before taking James' hand.

"You do know how weird this is, right?" Harry said. "I mean, you're my best friend, who I found out was my mum, so I prepared myself that you might remember... but I never... it's weird seeing you with my Dad, even though..."

She laughed. "I can understand. I know you're my son, but you're just the same as the best-friend I grew up with. I know I don't have your Hermione's memories, but I can imagine that we were just as close."

"Have fun at the party," Harry said.

Hermione adjusted the rings on her hand. "I intend to!"

...oOo...

Hermione smiled around the room, immediately guiding James over towards Minerva McGonagall.

Her eyes widened at the sight. "This is something I wasn't sure I'd ever see again," she began. "I trust that Miss Granger has -"

"Mrs Potter," Hermione corrected her, smirking. "And I remember everything... though I don't remember this timeline - the Hermione that you all know. Only my own."

"I'm glad," Minerva replied, warmly.

Hermione spotted someone over her shoulder. "Ah, this should be interesting. If you'll excuse me, Minerva."

Without waiting for an answer, Hermione pulled James past her, towards a familiar redhead.

Lily took in Hermione with a look of contempt. "Potter," she said. "I see that your tastes has gotten younger. A girl, not long out of school. It's disgusting, lower than I expected you to go."

"But not as low as to go for you still," Hermione smirked. "I've been out of school for a long time, Evans, and I suggest that you don't talk to my husband in that manner, otherwise I'll be forced to deal with you in the only way you've ever understood." Her fingers twitched over her wand.

Lily's eyes narrowed. "Hermione Granger. I was wondering if you would ever show, or if you would stay that bossy little -"

"And I was wondering if you threw your old saggy self at my husband in my absence, not that he'd want you. I mean, he chose me over you countless times, why would that change?"

"I'm happily married, I'll have you know," Lily sniffed.

Hermione smiled. "I'm glad. Well, me and James have people to meet. It's hard work being Lady Potter after all." She held up her hand, showing the slim band that had once belonged to James' mother, with the Potter crest on it, alongside her engagement ring.

Lily stared at the band.

"Come on James, If we're quick, we can find an empty cupboard or room and have a shag... "

"That's if Sirius and Remus haven't found the empty room first," James said, grinning at her.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

 **3285 words**

 **Thanks to Firefly for inspiring me to write this :D**


End file.
